


The Final Evening

by krylla_bee



Series: In Peace, Vigilance [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:09:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21990256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krylla_bee/pseuds/krylla_bee
Summary: Dimaethor and Cullen have a final conversation before she'll leave the Circle forever.((Dimaethor Surana is my Warden OC and I've been always intrigued by her feelings for Cullen & wanted to explore that a little!))
Relationships: Cullen Rutherford/Female Warden
Series: In Peace, Vigilance [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1582972
Kudos: 4





	The Final Evening

"Why in the Maker's name did you do that, Dimaethor?" Cullen hissed at her. "He was a blood mage!" 

"I didn't know that!" Dimaethor retorted fiercely, her fist balled into the woolen overdress she had just been stuffing into her pack. 

Cullen had found her in her new quarters after she had been sent to pack her few belongings. Not even 48 hours had passed since she had moved them up from the apprentice quarters in the first place. 

_Lucky me that I didn't have time to finish unpacking_ , she thought to herself bitterly. 

Dimaethor hadn't felt that much anger in a long time. She was hurt and betrayed and so, so confused. 

One moment she was trying to save Jowan's life, only to have her fate ripped out from under her fingers in a matter of minutes. She had been so sure that she was doing the right thing. That it had been the right decision to break the rules, as long as she could save an innocent - a friend - from the Rite of Tranquility, no matter the cost. And then he had betrayed her. 

No, he had betrayed her long before that when he began practicing blood magic. Jowan - a blood mage. Dimaethor could not wrap her head around it. That the mage she had seen today was the same soft-spoken boy who had comforted her during her first nights at Kinloch Hold. 

And because of him, she had been exiled and given a first-class ticket toward death. 

The thought of leaving the Circle behind didn't seem as grand as before, it felt terrifying. She had just passed her Harrowing, how could she ever survive a war?! She was a mage and scholar - not a soldier!

And now Cullen had come to seek her out - something he had hardly ever done before - only to berate her for her mistakes. 

"There were rumors, Dimaethor," Cullen said into the silence. "There is no way you didn't hear of them! Why did you not go to the First Enchanter? None of this would have happened. Nobody had to be hurt." 

Those words were like a slap to her face. _Did he truly understand so little?_

"Nobody but Jowan, you mean," Dimaethor replied quietly. 

Cullen looked pained by her comment. 

"We make the Rite of Tranquility as painless for mages as we can." 

Dimaethor forced herself to breathe slowly, hanging onto her crumbling self-control as best as she could. 

"Of course you do," she laughed humourlessly. "Because that's what's the issue here." 

"Dimaethor?" 

She stared at a crack in the stone wall to the right of him. About an arm-length away hung a banner with the drapery of the Circle of Magi. 

"What if it had been me?" She asked suddenly. 

Cullen startled. He obviously hadn't expected that question. 

"What if _I_ had been the one who's not been powerful enough while Jowan passed his Harrowing? What if I had found out that they wanted to do the Right of Tranquility on _me_? That they wanted to take away my feelings - my feelings for you? How would I have reacted? How would you have?" 

Cullen seemed to be utterly and completely lost. 

"You know - the Order - I couldn't - even before - and especially now - I couldn't -" 

_I wouldn't_ , corrected Dimaethor in her head. 

She could feel the heartbreak like a dagger to her heart. This was exactly what her friends had warned her of. 

She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. 

"At least you have the decency not to lie to me." 

_Be strong, dear heart, for the night is dark and the stars are far._

She squared her shoulders and looked him in the eyes. 

"I don't regret what I tried to do today, Cullen. I only regret how it worked out in the end."


End file.
